If there were any doubts that futurology has a future, this book dispels them.
In its description of the current scene and the problems spawned by
social change,
it is a modern book. The answer to these problems is found in
"the subjection
of the process of evolution itself to conscious human guidance."
Immediately,
we can label the work as an antique. The kind
of futurology presented here may have a future but
its final chapters were written in the Enlightenment. Thanks to a
crackling journalistic
style shored up by solid research, it is a book from which much can be learned.
It is, at once, a popular and a scholarly work. A definite strength is found in
its references which provide a kaleidoscopic view into the literature
of futurology.
Another strength is the system of provocative concepts with which the
book glistens.
"Future shock" or the disorientation experienced by people
who are subjected
to too much change in too short a period of time is the anchoring
concept. There
is also "modular man" or the person who becomes disposable
as he moves
from one social situation to another. In organizations, there is the concept of
"Ad-hocracy"; the shift from vertical bureaucratic forms to horizontal
lines of control. All of these concepts, and many more, provide the framework
for Toffler's major argument; society is changing so rapidly that we have lost
our perspective on reality.

Having made this diagnosis, Toffler would have us understand the new forms of
social reality, and rightly so. He recognizes, for instances, that
the individual
is being ripped from the total environment by social change and manipulated by
society. Consistent with a Christian emphasis, he asserts that the individual
must be seen as part of a total system. In fact, he recognizes the insulating
role played by religion in dealing with future shock.

For the most part, however, Toffler fights fire with fire. If technology is the major cause of future shock then what is needed is
more technology and not less. Since we cannot reverse the pattern of
technological
progress, we must understand and harness it. His suggestions along
this line are
prolific and sensible. For instance, he recommends that means of "sensory
shielding" be used to resist sensory stimuli when the upper
levels of human
adaptation are reached. Noting that entertainment is used to raise or lower the
level of stimulation, he suggests that other psychological controls
be discovered
and used in like fashion.

But such a recommendation shows Toffler's major weaknesses; his own
limited perception
of reality and his reliance on technology itself. For him, technology
is the only
real force in society. Indeed, his reductionism is quite apparent in
his reference
to change as a concrete force. In man, the reality is his
psychological need which
is in desperate need of protection. Again and again, he sees the threat to this
need expressed in the family, education, organizational structures,
and propaganda.
In retaliation, he argues for the gathering of human resources and ingenuity to
stem the tide. The ultimate objective is to "humanize distant
tomorrows,
This is a stimulating and profitable book, largely because Toffler is a realist
in his analysis of current problems. When it comes to solutions, however, he is
an idealist and can only offer the humanist hopes of the past.
Nevertheless, his
is a voice which cannot be ignored. Christians must recognze, as he
states, that
minority styles of life are bound to increase in the future. The majority who
represent a traditionally Christian life style, in any form, will
find increasing
pressure to change. Here is the cutting edge of the problem; what are
the critical
elements in a Christian life-style and how are they to be maintained? Toffler
provides us with the signs of the times and the Christian must interpret them
correctly.

Igoace Lcpp, a Catholic priest and practicing psychiatrist, is considered one
of France's most provocative writers. His other books include From Karl Marx to
Jeans Christ, the story of his career as a Communist actionary, and
Psychoanalysis
of Atheism, his explanation of why men reject the idea of God.

The modest aim of this hook, according to the author, is not to teach
the specialist
anything new but to help people to love: "I would hope ... to he able to
contribute modestly to the furtherance of love in the life of the
individual and
in the collective life of all mankind."

Lepp tries to reconcile the spiritual ideals of Christianity with psychiatric
insights into human sexuality via actual ease histories, most of
which are taken
from his own personal experience. While he does not consider himself a disciple
of Freud, he nevertheless lands the contribution which depth
psychology has made
to the Christian church. He acknowledges his debt to Freudian
psychoanalysis and
the analytic psychology of CC. Jung.

The reader finds very little theoretical and abstract discussion in this book.
Rather he comes across such pungent remarks as the following:

Homosexuality, sadism and masochism, impotency and frigidity are so
many different
types of emotional illness. Their unfortunate effects on the individual and on
society are at least as great as those produced by cancer or b polio.
Any form of idolatry is closer to atheism than it is to the true faith.
Only a man who is capable of loving a woman, and only
a woman who is capable of loving a man, is in a position to love friends, God,
and humanity in a genuine way.
...
studies of sex among animals tend to support the conclusion that no
animal experiences
sensual pleasure in the act of intercourse
The French custom of the one marital bed is particularly disastrous
to eroticism.
A body which one is always touching, even when he does not want to, loses
all its mystery and soon, consequently, all its attraction.

On the technical side, the book has an introduction, 12 chapters which are not
closely knit together and could be read in any order, and an index. There is no
bibliography. The translation into English was clone by Bernard B. Cilligan. The
Nihil Obstat and Imprimatur are official declarations that this book is free
of (Catholic) doctrinal and moral error.

By way of caution, it should be pointed out that since this honk is written by
a Frenchman, some of his observations apply strictly to Frenchmen. Since it was
written ten years ago, some of his views seem dated, especially in light of the
new feminism. The liberationist would surely smile when Lepp quotes
with approbation
Ilyrors's remark that "Love is only one occupation in a man's
life, but for
a woman it is life itself."
If the neophyte is looking for titillation or scientific information,
he had better
turn to other sources. Lcpp's accomplishments and purposes extend in
neither direction.

The American psychologist might be a little annoyed
at Lepp for referring to sex as an instinct, Jung's arche-types as being valid,
and the manic-depressive as being neurotic rather than psychotic. However, these
are minor semantieal differences and should not distract
from the overall impact of the book.

Robert Franencour has written of this book in Commonweal: ". . . interesting, frank, lively, and very enlightening."
The review in Cross Currents said that Lepp has made "a
substantial contribution
in the area of his expertise." With these evaluations, this
reviewer agrees.
The book is easy to read and made interesting by the many case studies. Lepp's
insights into the nature of love, sex, masculinity and feminity are generally
fresh and useful.

This seems to he the year for autobiographies. First there was The
Psychologists
a collection of autobiographies by psychologists. Now there is Healer
of the Mind,
a collection of autobiographies by psychiatrists.

The editor of this collection is Paul E. Johnson, professor emeritus
of psychology
and pastoral care at Boston University and visiting professor of pastoral care
at Christian Theological Seminary in Indianapolis, Indiana.
The autobiographies are written by ten prominent psychiatrists from
four different
countries (America, Japan, Switzerland, Wales). The writers are
Susumu Akalioshi,
Leo H. Bartemeier, Carl W. Christensen, Edgar Draper, James A.
Knight, David Calder Moir, Donald F. Moose, Jacob L. Moreuo, F. Mansell Pattison, and Paul Torsrnier
(who by his admission is not a psychiatrist).

All the contributors
are specialists
in psychotherapy and in some eases were trained in theology as well as medicine
and psychiatry. In addition to the personal information about each
author in his
autobiography, there is a helpful biographic sketch compiled by the
editor. There
is also a brief bibliography of selected writings from the
contributing writers.

These are autobiographies by psychiatrists who try to show the
influence of religion
on their development. They speak of their search for a viable faith.
While their autobiographies are generally illuminating,
some of the writers have evidently not seen the Light. It is clear that all of
the writers' are deeply religious men, but some of them are not Christians in
the evangelical sense. For instance, the deity of Christ, his virgin birth, and
the sacraments are questioned by one writer, lie says that these
beliefs "appeal
to the pathological in mankind" (p. 99), Furthermore: "It
is not necessary
to make Jesus of Nazareth divine to accept the basic truths he propounded"
(p. 99). Of course, it is necessary if the basic truths be propounded
are soteriological.
Another writer questions the reality of heaven, hell and immortality (pp. 195,
196). Finally, one writer goes so far as to certify that he does "not hold
to any supernatural philosophy, universal godhead, omniscient or
omnipotent spirit
or intelligence There are thus no absolute dogmas" (p. 116). Of
course, this
view is contrary to such evangelical opinion as expressed its W. C. T. Shedd's
Dogmatic Theology.

Of all the writers, Jacob L. Moreno, founder of psychodrama, must surely be the
most unique. He writes: "From my earliest years on I had only one impulse,
not to he a Moses or a Christ, a mystic or a philosopher, a prophet or messiah,
but to be God, the Father himself" (p. 205).

Since the book has ten authors, their views are not always in
harmony. For instance,
Leo H. Bartemeier
thinks that in dealing with clients the pastoral counselor should
shun reference
to himself if he expects to be effective (p. 59). Conversely, David Calder Moir
believes that no real progress can he made unless the pastoral
counselor exposes
himself to the person who came to share his problems (p. 161).

In this volume the reader learns some interesting facts: people who
are in trouble
most frequently choose a clergyman for help; eighty percent of psychiatrists in
the American Psychiatric Association belong to religious groups; there are one
million mental patients in hospitals; and mental illness among the clergy oc
curs less frequently than among the laity.

In conclusion, if space permitted, these are some of the pronouncements which
could be readily debated:

Religious faith does not protect us from neurosis or from other forms of mental
illness. That is not its function (p. 65).
...
psychiatrists have learned to help patients without imposing personal
values (p.
13).
The function of religion is neither the generating nor the relieving
of anxiety,
nor the care of our temporal ills. Its function is worship (p. 60).

GOD AND CAESAR: Case Studies in the Relation
ship between Christianity and the State. Robert D. Linder, Ed. Longview, Texas:
The Conference on Faith and History, 1971
.
Relatively few Christians in America have had to agonize over the
problem of the
relationship of Christianity to the state. Rarely has the state demanded that
a choice be made between Caesar and God. But this has not been the
ease with Christians
of other times or places.

God and Caesar contains a series of essays presented at the 1969 Conference on
Faith and History which met at Coneordia Teachers College in Illinois. In the
first part of the volume, four historians deal with selected periods of history
when Christians were considered "subversive" by the state.
The subversives
included the following: Christians in the Roman Empire, Anabaptists
in the sixteenth
century, peace church pacifists in twentieth-century America, and the
evangelicals of modern Russia. The second part of the work is
concerned with the
response of Lutherans and Baptists in Germany to the policies of
Adolph Hitler.

These essays raise a number of questions that are of importance to Christians
today. In the first place, they call attention to the general problem
of sorting
out priorities. Where does our obligation to the state end and our
primary allegiance
to God begin?

Secondly, these essays raise the question of the relationship of
Christian ideology
to political thought and practice. Almost all of the writers point
out that when
Christians take the Bible seriously, they are in danger of being
regarded as subversive
to the state. In Russia, for example, the Baptists view man as a
spiritual being;
the Marxists view him as a social being. The Baptist position tends
to undermine
the efforts of the Communists to achieve their goals. Are such tensions present
only in a totalitarian state? If evangelical Christians are fully committed to
obeying Christ, would they be regarded as subversives even in relatively open
societies?

Thirdly, one of the writers suggests that many evangelicals
"have emphasized
St. Paul's legitimizing of established political authority rather than Jesus'
explosive challenge to Jewish Law." Have we been guilty of stressing Paul
too much and Jesus too little for the sake of political expediency?

Finally, one question looms large in most of the essays. What should
he the evangelical
attitude toward war? Which position is most compatible with
Scripture: pacificism,
participation in only "just wars," or a willingness to
fight for one's
country regardless of the issues involved?

These essays indicate the need for major work on the relationship of
evangelical
Christianity to the state. Some have made a start in that direction.
Among these
works is Albert Hyma's Conservative Christianity and Politics, as well as the
more liberal collection of evangelical essays, Protest and Polities. It is to
be hoped that such organizations as the Conference on Faith and History as well
as individual evangelical scholars pursue this subject and produce some works
of significance on evangelical political thought and practice.

THE JESUS PEOPLE: Old Time Religion in the
Age of Aquarius by Ronald Enroth, Edward C. Ericson, and C.
Breckinbridgc Peters, Eerdmans, Grand Rapids, Michigan (1972). Paperback. 249 pp. $2.95.

This trio of authors from Westmont College attempts a thorough and
objective analysis
of the state of the Jesus Movement as of the fall of 1971. They begin
with a review
of other attempts to cover the same or similar ground and indicate
the shortcomings
of each, which they have consciously attempted to overcome. They pinpoint the
origins of the modern Jesus Movement in the beginnings of several ministries in
1967 and 1968, one of the first of which was the conversion of dope-addict Ted
Wise in 1966 in Sausalito, California; Wise is now in charge of a
drug prevention
center in Menlo Park, California, The most striking fact about the Jesus People
is this: whereas theologically they are fundamentalists, sociologically they are
anything but.

The authors devote six chapters of historical resumes of the main branches of
the movement, four chapters to a summary of their theological
doctrines, and two
chapters to an overview and analysis. Among the groups treated are the Children
of God-possibly the fastest growing group, with the strongest organization of
any group, and emphasis on 100% commitment to Jesus including alienation from
all other relationships, a post-tribulationist view of the second coming, and
frequent charges of kidnapping against them; the Christian Foundation of Tony
and Susan Alamo-the most attractive group for black converts, characterized by
a ceaseless emphasis on the fear of God, the insistence on the King
James translation
of the Bible as the only inspired version; the Christian Brothers of
Fresno, California,
who also emphasize doom and judgment. These three groups are also characterized
by their emphasis on communal Christian living.

Also included are summaries of the careers of Arthur Blessitt,
Minister of Sunset
Strip; Duane Pederson and the Hollywood Free Paper, the simple
approach to evangelism
contained in which has been the pattern for many other Jesus People newspapers;
singer and
composer Larry Norman. The Jesus Movement has produced some nondenominational
"hip" churches out of their rejection of the institutional
establishment
churches. These include Calvary Chapel of Costa Mesa, Bethel
Tabernacle in North
Redondo Beach, and the Sierra Madre Congregational Church in Sierra
Madre. "A
unique ministry to the street people of Berkeley and the students of
the University
of California campus there" is provided by the Christian World Liberation
Front and its superior underground newspaper Right On. This work
began with Jack
Sparks, a dropout from Campus Crusade. The authors feel that CWLF has "an
edge on other Jesus groups in terms of intellectual and spiritual
maturity,"
and has been helped by the Walnut Creek Presbyterian Church.

The above summary emphasizes the dominance of California in the Jesus
People movement.
There are other outposts of the movement throughout the United
States. These include
The East Coast Jesus People who publish The Ichthus, Linda Meissner
and the Jesus
People's Army of Seattle (although she has more recently joined the Children of
God), Carl Parks and the Jesus People's Army in other regions of Washington and
Idaho who publish Truth, Jim Palosarri and the Jesus Christ Power
House in Milwaukee,
Sammy Tippit and "God's Love in Action" in Chicago, Ron Rendlemen and
his work in West Chicago which achieved national notice when they successfully
withstood Satanists attempting to break up a Billy Graham Crusade in Chicago;
David Rose and the House of Agape in Kansas City, Missouri; Don Pauly
in Florida.

The Movement has naturally generated much activity on the fringes on
the interface
between radical and establishment Christian practice. Ex-staff
members of Campus
Crusade are noticeable. Hal Lindsey and Bill Counts head up the J. C. Light and
Power House in Westwood, California. Gordon Walker directs Grace Haven Farm in
Mansfield, Ohio. Jon Braun's work is associated with the Brothers and Sisters
of Isla Vista, California. Of established churches working in the
context of the
Jesus People, the most outstanding are Hollywood Presbyterian Church,
and Peninsula
Bible Church in Palo Alto, California. Others working on the fringe
include Mario
Murillo and his Resurrection City in Berkeley, David Wilkerson and
Teen Challenge,
evangelist Richard Houge working in the Southwest and Midwest, and
Lutheran Youth
Alive headed by David Anderson.

Whenever a movement gets going, there are also those who associate with it for
motives that are not always sincere or constructive. In this category
the authors
point to Ed Human and Hollywood's gospel night clubs, the Mustard Seed in Van
Nuys with the symbols but not the spirit of the revolution, a shaky
alliance with
classical Pentecostalists as personified in Kathryn Kuhlman, Victor
Paul Wicrwille
and "The Way" with its ultra-dispensationalist heresies,
and the upswing
in commercial music including Jesus Christ Superstar and God Spell.

The doctrines of the Jesus People, more or less common to all the
groups regardless
of the rich variety
in details, have four major emphases. (1) The simple gospel. Set
forth with "the
simplistic mentality endemic to fundamentalism," the Jesus People neglect
the profound implications of the doctrine of Creation and center almost total
attention on the doctrine of Redemption. Because of this they are
experience-oriented, anti-intellectual, proof-texters of "the worst sort,"
anticultural supported
by such writers as Watchman Nee, anti-social, anti-historical
resulting in "tendencies
toward exclusivism," and radically existential, (2) We are living in the
last days; Christ will return in our lifetimes. All three tribulational views:
pre - mid - and post-tribulation rapture, are held by various of the
Jesus People,
but all believe that only a few years are left for them to bring the message of
repentance to a doomed world. A new ingredient is "the mixture
of the charismatic
experiences traditionally associated with Pentecostalism with the eschatology
traditionally associated with dispensationalism." (3) Involvement in the
Pentecostal scene. Active practice is directed toward speaking in
tongues, divine
healing, and visions and visitations. The Jesus People experience
"a strong
sense of the presence of evil and the rule of the demonic." (4)
The Christian
commune. The motivation for establishing self-sufficient Christian
communes stems
in part from the post-tribulational theology which sees the need to protect the
community from Antichrist and his reign of terror. Desire for social control is
also a strung factor. This "social and theological isolation quite often
produces an inbred ethnocentrism."

Whatever else may he said about the Jesus People, the authors see "their
existence" as "a searing indictment of a desiccated,
hidebound institutional
church." The future of the Jesus People depends strongly on the future of
their relationship with the "straight" people of God. Three
possibilities
are foreseen for present members of the movement if indeed their prediction of
an immediate return of Christ is not fulfilled: (1) attraction for
the more disciplined
and organized groups such as the Children of God, (2) moderation so
that cooperation
within established churches becomes possible, or (3) rejection of the
whole Christian
position: "there is no anti-Christian like an ex-Jesus
person." Development
of option (2) is certainly the healthiest for the entire Christian community.
For this to be realized there must be a real determination and effort
on the part
of church Christians to understand and help, to accept Jesus communes
with brotherly
love. The "new social acceptability of bearing a public and
outspoken witness
for Christ is one of the best effects of the Jesus Revolution."
But, "without
maturity, without education, without grounding in Christian thought, the Jesus
People cannot avoid a commercialized end-what Larry Norman terms 'pop
Christianity.'

This is a really useful and informative treatment of the Jesus People. It is to
be recommended for reading by all Christians.